


Broken Sleep

by frangipani_flowers



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: As much as Todd can be comforting, But Not Much, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, He's still a bit emotionally stunted, I'm Bad At Tagging, Nightmares, Todd's pov, Well - Freeform, bed sharing, bless him
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-20
Updated: 2017-11-20
Packaged: 2019-02-04 18:57:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,625
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12777387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/frangipani_flowers/pseuds/frangipani_flowers
Summary: Todd wakes up in the dark. Dirk has nightmares.These things may be connected.





	Broken Sleep

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I'm a sad Brit who is waiting for Season 2 to appear on Netflix (soon, please, Internet/BBCAm gods) and my frustrations drove me back to this, which I started and abandoned before I'd seen the S2 trailer. 
> 
> As such, probably 100% noncompliant, and I'm pretty sure I'm literally months behind most of the fandom, since most of these sorts of thing were posted literal months ago. Oh well. Apologies for the lack of creativity, everyone!
> 
> Unbetaed, all mistakes are mine. Please point any issues out and I'll correct them!

Todd woke up in the dark.

It took him a few moments to realise exactly where he was. It’d only been a week since they’d left the safehouse Farah had set up for them, and the week before that they’d all been in some anonymous squat, and before that…

Well. Before that he’d been in his actual apartment, more or less, but even then there hadn’t been much in the way of sleep, what with trying to find out where Dirk had been taken. And the stuff between that and the first safehouse didn’t count, because the hard shoulder or the passenger seat of a car did not count as restful and Farah talked to herself while driving when she was feeling tense. Five hundred miles of listening to her taking mental inventory and running through tactical options, not to mention trying to offer a distraction when her voice started to sound too stressed, had not left Todd in the best place when it came to cracking a government facility. Even (especially?) one that was pretending not to exist.

And he was back round to it again, because Todd had had quite a few broken nights thanks to that little excursion. He didn’t think that that was what had woken him this time, though.

Todd stared up into the dark where he knew the ceiling was, and just listened to the silence. It was so weird having a new place. It was weird not having other people nearby, too. Farah’s plan to make them seem less like a group of three (should anyone have been looking) involved pretending that she and Dirk were a married couple. Farah didn’t spend much time in the equally tiny apartment they’d rented downstairs since she was still clearing up loose ends elsewhere, but Dirk had stayed put as instructed. Considering how irritating Todd had found Dirk’s snoring and Farah’s occasional sleep-talking at first, he was missing them rather a lot.

And it was quiet around here, too, not like Seattle. So quiet. Any little noise could break it….

And there – what was that? A tiny cough, almost muffled out of existence. Todd lay still, ears straining for anything else. It probably wouldn’t have bothered him six months ago, but now… intruders? Farah had assured them that relocating and the safehouses would have shaken off anyone looking, but Todd’s imagination fed him images of armed figures creeping towards his door… The gun Farah had given him was in the drawer by the bed (he still refused to keep it behind the mattress by his head), and there was a baseball bat inside the door.

Todd considered hiding, but what whatever it was went downstairs instead? Not that it was going to be anyone. But it would be best to check. And he’d feel really stupid if he hid under the bed or something for nothing… But there it was again – a couple of them, this time, and the ghost of a shaky inhalation. Not intruders, then. Probably. Bat it was, then.

Three steps to the door. One back to be well back when he opened the door. Two through into the room beyond, where there was barely any more light than in his room. And then Shark bumped up against his ankle and he yelped and swung out with the bat, half noticing an answering yelp from across the room.

“What the hell are you doing?” Todd growled out in his most intimidating voice.

His only answer was a slightly damp sniff. It was only when the moon-highlighted outline of the couch moved and huddled down slightly he realised someone was sitting there, curled up on themselves.

Todd lowered the bat with a sigh as he flicked on a lamp.

“Dirk, what are you doing here?”

 

Dirk didn’t look up. Todd thought he was being pretty patient by not demanding why Dirk had his own apartment at all if he was just going to break into Todd’s whenever he felt like it. But this clearly wasn’t the moment. Dirk was only wearing his Mexican Funeral t-shirt and blue check pajama bottoms, and Todd was willing to bet that under the rug from the couch Dirk had wrapped himself in his feet were bare.

Todd dropped onto the couch beside Dirk, and heard it groan beneath him.

“Dreams again?”

No response. Todd sighed, and tried another tack. “Why didn’t you wake me up, if you were here?”

“I… I didn’t want to bother you.”

The reply was soft and muffled by Dirk talking down into the blanket, and Todd had to strain to hear. He was just about to remind Todd that he was his _friend_ , that he might be an asshole but he wasn’t enough of one that he’d have minded – at least, not much – when Dirk took another shuddering breath and repeated himself, more strongly. “…I didn’t want to bother you. You’ve already done so much. I just thought that – that being here might help.”

Dirk’s voice faded back down to a mumble. And he still wouldn’t meet Todd’s eyes.

Todd tried to keep his voice free of judgement. “And did it?”

Dirk nodded, then paused and shook his head. “Not really. It might have done, before. I didn’t really have nightmares when we were all together, but now…” Dirk was getting more agitated, Todd could tell. His words were coming faster, he’d sat forward, hunching over himself slightly, and began to go from slight gestures to hand waving to punctuate his words. “Now, it just reminds me of being back _there_. It’s so quiet! And you aren’t there. It’s not fair, you got me out, you got us all out, but it’s like that doesn’t even matter!”

Just as Todd had begun to think that maybe he should reach out and touch his arm or do something to steady his suddenly frantic friend, Dirk suddenly dropped his hands limply to his lap.

 “I hate it, but there isn’t anything I can _do_ about it.” All the energy seemed to rush out of Dirk’s frame and he slumped against the back of the couch, shivering violently.

“And especially when Farah’s away… I don’t like being on my own. I don’t like not being with you.”

The silence drew out. Todd thought of a dozen things to say and then discarded all of them in favour of,

“I don’t like it either.”

Dirk swung round to stare at him. “What?!”

Todd could feel the embarrassment of expressing himself heating his cheeks, and he looked away. “I don’t like it either, okay? That you’ve had to deal with all this. And. It’s weird not having you guys around all the time. If you feel that way too, you don’t have to wait for 2am to say it. We’re your friends, Dirk – I’m your friend – and I wanna help, okay? …And Jesus, Dirk, you’re fucking freezing, why the hell are you just in your pajamas?”

In the momentary silence that followed, Dirk must have decided to treat that as a rhetorical question by Todd to divert attention, because the next thing that he said was, “…do you want me to leave?”

It sounded like he was trying to be more confident than he felt, and not as sure as he’d like to be of the answer.

Todd snorted. “Look, I’m tired as hell and it’s cold out here. I’m going back to bed. Come with, stay here, whatever.” He levered himself off the couch and headed for his room, smiling privately to himself when he heard the springs move again a moment later. And when he went through the door to his room he cut Dirk off by pulling him through before he could hover in the doorway. Todd hadn’t been lying when he’d said he was tired, but he knew his friend.

There was a certain amount of shifting around before they settled down, and Todd could see Dirk was holding himself back. As if he knew Todd was thinking about him, he shifted some more, and Todd could _feel_ him looking at him through the dark. They’d never get to sleep like this. Or, at least, Dirk wouldn’t, and literally the last thing Todd wanted was to have someone staring at him while he was sleeping.

Dirk shifted again, and Todd just reached out with one arm and pulled him into a loose hug. Dirk froze for a moment, surprised, and then almost instantly huddled into Todd’s warmth. His feet _were_ bare, Todd noted. And extremely cold. But in the interests of getting back to sleep…

Besides, Dirk felt right under his arm, resting his weight against him and making very soft sounds. And he was trembling again.

“Hey, Dirk? You okay?”

Todd could feel Dirk nod against his chest. “Thank you, Todd.”

His voice was small, but clear and audible. He was alright. He relaxed again, and leaned his head down to rest it against Dirk’s for a moment.

“Just… don’t break in just to sit on my couch in the dark again, okay?”

Dirk pressed even closer if possible, tucking his face against Todd’s shoulder.

“Especially since I could have hurt you. You could have been anyone!”

Dirk’s responding chuckle was wet and a little choked, but genuine. “I doubt anyone with darker motives would have just sat on your sofa.”

“What? Dirk, weird shit happens all the time around you. Us. That wouldn’t be even the halfway weirdest thing to happen.”

Todd waited, expecting a smart answer, but all he heard was a soft snore. He tightened his arm around his friend, a smile he would have denied curving his lips up at the edges.

“We’ll talk to Farah about you moving out of your place tomorrow.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Once again, please do point any issues out and I will fix!  
> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
